At this concert, the Iceland Symphony pairs a stunning
selection of French and Nordic works. The Orchestra will then revisit the
programme in February 2020, when it embarks on a tour of Great Britain. At the
podium is Yan Pascal Tortelier, Chief Conductor of the Iceland Symphony from
2016 through 2019, who has conducted a number of memorable concerts in Eldborg
hall.

French piano virtuoso Jean-Efflam Bavouzet captivated the
audience when he performed at the Reykjavík Arts Festival in 2016, playing
Ravel’s Piano Concerto with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. According to
the critic from Fréttablaðið, he “left us breathless as he somersaulted
up and down the keyboard”, and the audience was transfixed. Now he returns with
Ravel’s other piano concerto, written for German pianist Paul Wittgenstein. Wittgenstein
had lost his right arm in World War I but continued concertising with undimmed
enthusiasm, commissioning a number of compositions from his contemporaries.

Sibelius’ Symphony no. 1 is a magnificent work in the
Romantic spirit, written under strong influence from Tchaikovsky. No less
captivating is the music written by Georges Bizet to accompany Daudet’s play L’Arlésienne,
premiered in Paris in 1872, three years before the opera Carmen. The
play was not a success, however, and closed after a handful of performances.
Bizet responded by collecting the best musical numbers and creating suites of
incidental music that became highly popular and made the composer a household
name all over Paris.